Duke Rally Falls Short Against Vandy, 11-10

Sunday, April 20

Nashville, Tenn.

2:00 p.m.

Duke University

Vanderbilt

Duke Rally Falls Short Against Vandy, 11-10

4/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The No. 7 Duke Blue Devils mounted a furious comeback late in the second half but came up just one goal short, dropping an 11-10 contest against the No. 13 Vanderbilt Commodores at the Vanderbilt Soccer/Lacrosse Complex.

With 9:50 remaining, Vanderbilt went up 11-7 and had been leading since 13 minutes into the first period. However, the Blue Devils tallied three goals in 4:42 to bring themselves within one with 4:53 left in the contest.

The Commodores won the ensuing draw control, but a save on a free-position shot by junior Kim Imbesi led to a Danielle Kachulis ground ball and a clear for the Blue Devils. After a timeout, Kachulis beat her defender one-on-one and took a shot that senior goaltender Brooke Shinaberry saved.

Vanderbilt would hold onto the ball until 18 seconds were left, when freshman midfielder Emma Hamm caused a turnover and picked up the ground ball. Junior attacker Carolyn Davis took the re-start after a foul by the ?Dores and went through three defenders to the goal, where her shot went just wide with two seconds left. Sophomore midfielder Lindsay Gilbride attempted to get a shot off before time expired, but it was not to be.

Unlike Monday night's match against Virginia Tech when nine Blue Devils scored goals, only four were able to find the back of the net on Sunday. Juniors Davis and Megan Del Monte led the attack with four goals a piece, each on seven shots. Davis was able to do that despite being be guarded most of the game by Tewaaraton Trophy nominee and defensive midfielder Sasha Cielak.

Duke outshot Vanderbilt (27-17), committed fewer turnovers (11-14), caused more caused turnovers (10-8) and picked up more ground balls (14-10), but it would not be quite enough to overcome the one-goal differential.

What did hurt the Blue Devils statistically was the same thing that has plagued them all season: draw controls. Vandy won the draw, 13-10, sending Duke to its 10th game in the last 11 being beaten in that critical category.

The defensive effort for Duke was once again led by Hamm, who caused three turnovers and picked up four ground balls. She also added one goal, one assist and three draw controls.

The Commodores' most dominant effort was made their goalkeeper Shinaberry, who made 12 saves on the afternoon. Senior attacker Margie Curran led Vandy offensively with two goals and three assists and freshman attacker Katherine Denkler scored three goals and dished out an assist.

Duke falls to 9-6 while Vanderbilt improves to 12-4. The Blue Devils now hold a 4-6 record over ranked teams this year. The six regular season losses is the most for a Duke team in the regular season since 2002 and only the fourth time in 13 years of the program that they have lost at least six regular season contests.

Duke is now 11-3 all-time against Vanderbilt and had its string of four consecutive victories in the series snapped. The Blue Devils have faced the Commodores in every regular season since the inception of the Blue Devil women's lacrosse program, plus one meeting in the first round of the 2002 NCAA Tournament.

Sunday marked Duke's 10th game out of 15 overall this season against a ranked opponent and the second of three straight road contests to wrap up the regular season.

Duke will head to the ACC Women's Lacrosse Tournament this week in Charlottesville, Va. The Blue Devils earned the No. 3 seed and will face Virginia Tech at 1:00 p.m., on Thursday in Scott Stadium. If the Blue Devils advance, they will face No. 2 Virginia on Friday at 3:00 p.m. The championship game of the tournament will be played on Sunday, April 27 at 1:00 p.m.

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